Tas. 8045. 
ERICA auvstTRALIs. 
S.W. Europe and N.W. Africa. 
Ericacez. Tribe Ericea. 
Erica, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 590. 
Erica australis, Linn. Mant. alt. p. 231; Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 1, vol. ii. p. 19; 
Benth, in D.C. Prodr. vol. vii. p. 666; Andr. Heaths, t. 52; species inter 
affines antherarum cristis unilateraliter serratis insignis. 
Frutex ramosissimus, usque ad 6-7 ped. altus, ramis gracilibus nigro-pubes- 
centibus. Folia quaterna, vix semipollicaria, patentia, arcte recurva. 
Flores rubro-purpurei, 3-4 lin. longi, 4-6 in ramulorum apicibus conferti, 
brevissime pedicellati. Bracteole puberale, sepalis simillime et illis 
arcte. approximate. Corolla cylindrica, lobis 4 rotundatis reflexis. 
Antherz basifixe, atrorubree, brevissime exsertz, basi cristate. Discus 
crenatus. Ovarium puberulum; stylus glaber, distincte exsertus, stigmate 
capitato.—H. protrusa, Salisb. Prodr. Stirp. in Hort. Chap. Allert. Vig. 
(1796), p. 298. FH. pistillaris, Salisb. in Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. vi. (1802), 
p. 368. EH. aragonensis, Willk. in Linnea, vol. xxv. p. 46. £. umbellata, 
Asso, Syn. Arag. p. 49. 
Aiton, who calls this the ‘ Spanish Heath,” records it 
as having been introduced into cultivation in this country 
by George, Earl of Coventry, in 1769, and Salisbury had 
it in his garden at Chapel Allerton in 1796; but it is 
still rare in gardens, though one of the prettiest of the 
hardy species. This may be due to its being unable to 
withstand our severest winters, which one might expect 
from its geographical distribution. The present plantation 
at Kew has only been in existence since 1896, so that it 
has not passed through a season of extreme cold. It is 
recorded as attaining a height of six or seven feet, but is 
usually a bush about half that height. Like most of the 
heaths, it begins flowering when quite young, and it con- 
tinues in flower from April to July. It is a free grower, 
and perhaps the most ornamental of the out-door species ; 
the brightness of the colour of its flowers being its special 
attraction. In structure H. australis comes nearer our 
native H. Tetralia and LE. cinerea than it does to the southern 
Li, arborea and L. lusitanica. 
_ Descr—A. densely branched shrub, sometimes six or 
Seven feet high, but usually less. Branches very slender, 
NovemBer Ist, 1905. 
